Hilton wins Southport Cycling Club’s time trial

SOUTHPORT brought the 2008 season to a close with the final event on the calendar, the Boxing Day time trial.

The race held on the Coastal Road between Weld Road and Pontin’s roundabout saw a field of 11 riders doing battle against the watch.

The race has had mixed fortunes over the past few years, with 2005 being cancelled due to lack of interest.

Then 2006 saw only two riders competing, but 2007 showed a bit of a revival with 12 riders making the start.

Clearly, the weather does play a big part in the number of riders taking part, but it is encouraging to see that interest has been maintained.

As expected, the club’s time trial specialist Dave Hilton posted the fastest time of 13mins 37sec, with Spencer Coltman some 24secs back taking second spot and Steve Duffell a further 14secs back taking third.

Despite the cold and icy start to the new 2009 season, the first weekend of the year saw a good turn-out for both the Saturday and Sunday club runs.

The Saturday run through the lanes around Croston and Mawdesley before heading off to Clieves Hill attracted over a dozen riders.

Meanwhile, the longer Sunday run to Scorton via Woodplumpton and Harris End Fell with a return across the Fylde saw a group well into double figures.

The Bolton based pair of Dave Walker and Lee Hunt completed the Southport-Settle-Southport 200k Audax on Saturday, with Ken Taberner putting in a solo effort over the same route on Sunday.

Tomorrow evening sees the third event in this current winter Revolution Series of international track race meetings held at the Manchester Velodrome.

Racing starts at 7pm and features the some of the UK’s new cycling MBE’s as the star attractions.

The previous two meetings were sold out, so it would be advisable to check ticket availability before travelling.

Members are reminded that subscriptions for the new 2009 year are now due to club treasurer Bill Lloyd.

Next Monday at the clubroom, Ken Beck will be collecting the final orders for new club kit.

The weekend clubruns will depart as usual from the Plough bus stop, Preston New Road.

The Saturday run leaves at 9.30am, while the Sunday run leaves at 9am and the weekday runs also depart from the Plough bus stop Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all now at 9.30am.